Watch.



C. E. DE LONG.

WATCH.

APPLICAHON HLED MAY 27. 1918.

Patented Jan. 21, 1919.

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UNITED STATES PATENT ouuion. 1

CHARLES E. DE LONG-, OF SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO ILLINOIS WATCH COMPANY, OF SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

WATCH.

Application filed May 27, 1918.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, CHARLES E. lDE LONG, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Springfield, in the county of Sangamon, State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Watches, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawin s.

Thi invention relates to an improved con struction of the gearing comprised in the winding mechanism of a stem winding watch, and particularly to an improved construction of the pinion that is-secured to the winding-stem. Ordinarily such pinion and the wheel with which it engages are set in planes at right angles to each other, and both the pinion and wheel are cut with spur teeth as if they were intended to run in the same plane. While the action resulting from such a construction and arrangement is very defective it has been quite generally adhered to because of the desire to produce thin watch movements and the inability to incorporate therein the ordinary beveled teeth on both of said gearing members. In these constructions employing a spur-tooth pinion and spur-tooth wheel the sharp corners of the teeth of the pinion engage and act upon the similar sharp corners of the teeth of the wheel near the bases of such wheel teeth. Such engagement gives very little actual wearing surface until such sharp edges become rounded by wear. Furthermore, in such constructions each tooth of the spur pinion acts before it reaches the line of centers, and consequently is subjected to considerable engaging friction which tends to force the wheel longitudinally of its shaft and out of engagement with the pinion, and will so separate it from the pinion in some instances where the wheel has acquired much loosenesswith respect to its bearing.

It is the object of this invention to provide a construction of winding mechanism that will overcome the defects and disadvantages incident to the employment of two spurteeth members as above stated. Briefly stated, I accomplish this by forming the pinion with beveled teeth that so cooperate with the spur-teeth of the wheel as to result in a smooth and easy winding operation and with the wear removed from the corners of the teeth and distributed over the sur- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 21, 1919.

Serial No. 236,772.

faces thereof,all as more particularly described hereinafter. That which I believe to be new will be pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a plan view of a portion of a watch movement embodying mv improvements; '1

Fig. is a detail, being an edge view of the pinion and a plan view of a portion of the spur-toothed winding wheel in en -agement with the pinion; b

Fig, 3 is a vertical central section throu h the pinion and wheel, the sections beiiig taken at line 33 of Fig. 2, and the figure also indicating the convergence at the axis of the spur wheel of the lines upon which the beveling of the body of the pinion between the teeth and that upon the lower outer edges of such teeth is done; and

Fig. 4: is a bottom view of the pinion.

All of the figures are, of course, very much enlarged.

Referring to the several figures of the oraw1ng:5 indicates the casing for the watch mechanism and 6 a plate or bridge secured therein. '7 indicates the usual winding-stem projecting through the casing and having upon its inner end a pinion 8 that meshes with the gear 9 that in turn meshes with the usual ratchet gear 10 that is fast upon the arbor with which the mainspring of the watch is secured, all as is well understood in the art and therefore not necessary to be here illustrated. The wheel 9 is formed with ordinary spur-teeth as usual, but, differing from the usual practice, the teeth of the pinion 8 are beveled. Referring now particularly to the construction of this pinion it will be noted (see Fig. 3) that between the teeth the body of the pinion is quite sharply beveled downwardly and inwardly as at (0 whereas the teeth themselves have the greater portion of their outer edges vertical or parallel with the axis of the pinion. Such straight outer edge portion of these teeth is indicated by Z). Below the straight portion each tooth is beveled inwardly as at c. The side faces of each of the teeth are cut away or beveled in such manner that toward their outer ends their side faces converge toward the downwardly and inwardly beveled edge portion 0, as best shown in Fig. :2. So shaping the side faces of these teeth results in producing a narrow portion at the bottom of each tooth that by virtue of narrower than, its upper face, which constructlon, of course, causes the surfaces at to be widened gradually from the upper to the lower face of the pinion.

As a result of the construction described I am enabled to provide in a watch movement a construction of winding mechanism having all the advantages that would pertain to the employment of two ordinary intermeshing bevel gears, and am at the same time able to embody my improvements in a thinner watch-movement than such ordinary bevel gears could be employed with; indeed the movement can be made as thin as, if not thinner than, when both the pinion and wheel are provided. with spur-teeth, and at the same time no change of construction is required to be made in any part except the pinion, and the location of that is exactly the same as in the case of the spur-pinion.

With the partsassembled as shown, it will be seen that the teeth of the pinion 8 enter well into the spaces between theteeth of the wheel '9, being permitted to do so by reason of the sharp bevel given, as. at a, to the body of the pinion between its teeth. This will be apparent from an inspection of Fig. 3. In turning the stem 7 for a winding operation a curved side face of a pinion tooth presses against a tooth of the wheel 9 and during its engagement presents a greater amount of surface in contact than is attainable in similar circumstances with a spur-tooth pinion. In my improved construction the'wear is not mainly upon any corners of teeth as in the old construction, but is necessarily distributed over all of the contacting surfaces and hence the efiiciency of the mechanism is correspondingly enhanced. Another important advantage pertaining to my construction resides in the fact that the friction between the pinion and wheel instead of acting to force them apart, as in the case of the use of the ordinary pinion, will tend to hold the wheel to theplate, so that even a considerable loosening of the wheel, as by a partial unscrewing'of the hub screw that holds the wheel in place, will not interfere with or prevent a smooth action of the parts, which is something not possible with the style of pinion now in general use.

Copies of this patent may beo'btained for What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1'. In a stem-winding watch, a windingtrain comprising in combination a spurwheel and abevel wheel in mesh therewith.

2. In a stem-winding watch, a windingtrain comprising in combination a spurwheel and a bevel wheel in mesh therewith,

' the axes of the wheels being substantially at right angles to each other.

3. In a stem-winding watch, a windingtrain comprising in combination a spurwheel and a bevel wheel in mesh therewith,

the body of the bevelwheel between the wheel being substantially parallel with the axis of such wheel at their. upper part and beveled inwardly at. their lower part.

5. In a stem-winding watch, a. windingtrain comprising in combination a spurwheel'and a beveled wheel in' mesh therewith, the body of the bevel wheel between the teeth thereof being beveled inwardly from its upper face and having the outer edges of its teeth parallel withits axis at their upper part and beveled inwardly at their lower part. Y

6. In a stem-winding watch, a wind-ingtrain comprising in combination a spurwheel and a bevel wheel in mesh therewith, the outer edge of each'tooth of the bevel wheel being at its upper part substantially parallel withuthe axis of such wheel and at its lower part beveled inwardly and having its side faces curved or beveled so that at the outer portions of said teeth such side faces converge toward the said inwardlybeveled edge portions.

'7. In a stem-winding watch, a windingtrain comprising in combination a spurj five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner. of Patents, Washington, D. 0; 

